Setting The Bait
by Firebird
Summary: Ed irritates Greed that little bit too much and Greed puts him back into his place, along with planting some thoughts in Ed's head.


Word Count: 806 Warning/Notes/Disclaimer: Characters are not mine and I am not making any money off this. However, they _do_ belong to Hiromu Arakawa/Square ENIX, MBS, ANX, BONES, FUNimation Productions, Ltd.

Setting The Bait

Greed had been attempting to tune out Edward's rantings and ramblings as he stuffed his face by the campfire to little avail. After one jibe too many aimed at him, he abruptly stood. "Put down your food and come with me."

Ed blinked at him, completely thrown. "But I'm still eating."

"Put your food down and come with me," Greed carefully enunciated, to avoid showing how pissed off he was. "It will still be there when we return."

Ed grumbled and put his food near the fire so it would still be at least somewhat warm. Then he followed Greed into the forest, muttering about Greed thinking he could order him around.

Once Greed thought they were far enough in for their conversation to not be overheard aside from possibly some distant yelling, he spun around and punched Ed in the face. While Ed was still recovering from the shock of that, he dropped to sweep Ed's feet out from under him.

By then, Ed had recovered enough to spin around to try to turn his fall into a tumble but was foiled by Greed throwing himself at him and twisting his flesh arm up behind him. "Ow! What the hell do you think you're doing?!"

"Putting you back into your place," Greed growled into his ear. "You do remember saying that you'd work for me, yes? Doing that means not insulting me at every turn, not arguing with me just for the sake of arguing, and following your fucking orders."

He twisted Ed's arm up more to make his point, resulting in Ed's back arching to relieve the pressure. "Okay, I get it, no more mouthing off!"

"I don't think you entirely do. For future reference, I don't mind if you argue with me, if you're doing it for a _reason_, not just to be an annoying little dick. You do have valid points occasionally, but they're far outweighed by you arguing just to be a pain in my ass. You will have a valid motive behind any disagreements you may have in the future. Now concerning your orders. You are allowed to question them if you genuinely don't understand why you've been given them. I may not explain myself to you, and you _will_ follow them, but you may do that. The insults should go without saying. Any questions?" He still had Ed's arm turned back painfully.

Ed shook his head and hissed in a breath as he tried not to let the pressure get to him. "No. No questions."

"Good," Greed grunted. "Now maybe I can stop wanting to tell you to put your mouth to better use quite so often."

At that, Ed went cold. He wasn't stupid; he knew what that meant. Still... "What?"

Greed rolled his eyes. He could tell by the way Edward's body stiffened under his, what he was thinking. "Oh relax. I won't make you do anything you don't want to. Not where that's concerned, anyway. Although..." He moved Ed's ponytail to the side for easy access to the back of his neck to brush his fingers against it with a light pressure.

That prompted a gasp from Ed and a shudder that ran down his back and somehow made its way to his groin. He may have made a sound; he wasn't entirely sure.

Greed grinned and brushed his fingers against the back of Ed's neck a few more times before he stopped, certain that his point had been made. "Something to keep in mind, hmm?"

It took Ed a few minutes to find his voice, and when he did, his tone was oddly subdued. "Can I go finish eating now?"

"Of course." Greed rolled off him and watched him get up and rotate his shoulder to relieve the soreness. Then he gestured for Edward to proceed him in a mocking bow and let him get some distance between them before turning his attention to the shouting prince inside.

'Greed, what are you doing?! Leave him alone!' Ling yelled from inside their head.

'He's mine and the sooner he gets that through his thick skull, the better. Besides, I meant it about not making him do anything in bed-or anywhere else suitable-without his consent.' He watched Ed walk ahead of them, or more specifically, his retreating backside.

'And how long is that going to last?' Ling seethed.

'As long as it takes. I've got plenty of time. The bait has been set out, it's up to him if or when he takes it,' Greed responded, almost absently. 'If he puts the same dedication and work into it as he does his alchemy and fighting, he should be great in bed.'

Ling gave up arguing with Greed for now out of disgust and settled into watchful wariness. The moment Greed let his guard down...


End file.
